Robert Oppenheimer: The Contradictions of the “Destroyer of Worlds”

On August 6, 1945, the US dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. This tragedy had an equally important precedent, but not as catastrophic. This happened just a few days before, on July 16, 1945, when the Trinity test ended in complete success.

Julius Robert was behind this essay. OppenheimerKnown as the father of the atomic bomb. This physicist was born on April 22, 1904, the same day as today, 117 years ago.

Eyewitnesses to this trial noted that Oppenheimer’s reaction during the trial was one of relief and satisfaction as he exclaimed, “It worked!” (It worked).

Eleven days after the bombing of Hiroshima, the same physicist expressed in writing his desire to ban nuclear weapons.

Two months later, he told President Harry S. Truman that he could feel blood on his hands.

This can be considered the only time that Oppenheimer showed anything resembling regret. In fact, in his later years, the physicist even pointed out that if he could go back in time, he would do everything exactly the same and that he did not blame himself for having contributed to the success of the bomb.

destroyer of worlds

Oppenheimer died on February 18, 1967 from aggressive throat cancer. Two years earlier, the BBC aired a documentary The decision to drop the bombwhere he analyzed the historical moment when the decision was made to drop the bomb on Hiroshima.

This entry includes the physicist’s famous phrase, taken from a sacred Hindu text. Bhagavad Gitaand to which he tried to explain his participation in the tests two decades earlier: “Now I have become Death, the destroyer of worlds,” the physicist said on this occasion.

Thus, in his last stage, the so-called father of the atomic bomb turned to Eastern religions and philosophies as a kind of help to cope with what he did, which does not mean that he regretted it.

After all, his contribution to the development of the bomb marked the career of this physicist. In fact, he is little known for his achievements in theoretical physics, such as his principles of quantum mechanics, his theories about black holes, or quantum field theory.